Thenue Housing Association Additional IT and Literacy Support for Other Learning

housing organisation

summary of project

This was an additional IT/literacy support class brought in as a consequence of need identified in another learning project.

North Glasgow Healthy Living Community were delivering a Health Issues in the Community (HIIC) Course, with the support of the NHS. The North Glasgow Healthy Living Community identified that there was a particular need amongst their participants for additional IT support in order for them to complete the HIIC course, which involved use of the Internet and Office software.

The Support Class sessions were arranged to take place in the G31 centre, which is equipped with learning centre as part of the John Wheatley Learning Network. The support class sought to enable the participants to complete course related activities, such as conducting online research, writing an essay and creating a PowerPoint presentation.

The sessions contained both IT skills development and general literacy development as participants gained essay-writing skills through the course of the sessions.

who was it aimed at?

Local residents who are taking part in the Health Issues in the Community Course, provided by North Glasgow Healthy Living Community.

how was it funded?

Digital Inclusion workers from both Thenue Housing Association and West of Scotland were funded by their respective Associations.

The Health & Wellbeing Worker was funded by North Glasgow Healthy Living Community

housing organisation resources provided:

Digital inclusion worker’s time, printed resources and memory sticks for all participants.

what partners were involved?

Thenue Housing Association, North Glasgow Healthy Living Community, NHS, West of Scotland Housing Association, G31 Centre and (indirectly) Glasgow Kelvin College through the John Wheatley Learning Network

challenges

The main challenges surrounded the participants’ ability to attend the sessions. Overall, attendance was good, but some individuals were less able to attend regularly due to other commitments.

lessons learnt

The initial 2-hour session was not long enough for the participants to both learn new skills and to put it into practice, as well as have a break away from the computers and work – luckily the venue and workers were able to offer an additional hour of support.